John Howard Gundy

Corinth, VT-John Howard Gundy, M.D, 78, passed away on May 26 at his home in Corinth, VT. The first of four sons of John Eveleigh and Evelyn Howard Gundy of Rye, New York, he was born on January 9, 1937. Sailing on Long Island Sound was one of his childhood joys.Jack was a skilled jazz musician on clarinet and piano, he played football, and he was active in student government at Rye High School, where some classmates dubbed him "Benny Goodman."Jack graduated in 1958 from Dartmouth College, where his love of poetry began under the tutelage of Richard Eberhart. One of his great joys was playing clarinet in the marching band. He received his M.D. from Cornell Medical School in 1962 and became an intern pathologist there. Jack led the medical school dance band on piano. While in New York City, Jack met and married his lifelong partner, Sally. Having chosen pediatrics as his field, he interned in 1964 at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY. A two-year residency followed at University of Pennsylvania Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.Jack served in the U.S. Army from 1967-68 at Fort McClellan in Anniston, AL, where he also cared for indigent children in the town clinic. He returned to Philadelphia to serve on the faculty of Hanneman Hospital and coordinate care at a federal health clinic as part of the War on Poverty. In 1972, he was called back to Dartmouth to serve on the medical school pediatric faculty where he helped set up clinics in underserved areas such as Springfield, VT and Mascoma, NH. In 1978, Jack moved with his family to Danbury, CT where he planned a new pediatric floor at Danbury Hospital and began teaching Yale medical students. At Yale, he authored an important pediatric text: Assessment of the Child in Primary Health Care. In 1983, he went into private practice and served the families of Danbury and Brookfield, CT until his retirement in 2008. He was school doctor for the Danbury Schools and created three in-school clinics. He had a special concern for the health needs of disabled children in his community and for the well-being of patients' families. Jack had a lifelong dedication to helping the disadvantaged. As a medical student in 1960, he set up a lab at Bon Samaritain Hospital in Limbe, Haiti. He returned to this hospital to care for patients after the 2010 earthquake.In 2008, Jack and his wife, Sally, returned to the woods of Corinth to live, where his poetry and gardens flourished. He began a poetry group at the Blake Memorial Library, and had his poems published in Bloodroot and other publications. He continued his work in community health by serving on the board of Little Rivers Clinic. Jack was happy to be the piano accompanist for any community events, including his daughter's tap classes. Throughout, he shared with his wife and four children his love of music, hiking, and skiing. Jack was a special man, a kind soul, and will be deeply missed by his family.He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Sally Howell Gundy; four children, Charles Howell Gundy and his wife Haidje Rustau of London, England; Jennifer Verity Gundy and her partner Paul Brierre of Marshfield, VT; John Benjamin Gundy of Waterbury, VT; Joanna Kate Gundy of Corinth, VT; his grandsons Charles Rustau Gundy and Johannes Alexander Rustau Gundy of London, England; his brothers William E. and Malora Gundy of New London, NH; David H. Gundy, M.D., of Bedford, NH; and Dr. Edward V. and Donna Gundy, of Rye, NY; cousins Bonnie Simonson Burgess of Riverdale, NY, and Michael and Beth Simonson of New York City; and nieces and nephews.A memorial service is being planned for August. Donations can be made in his name to the Hopital Bon Samaritain in Limbe, Haiti: http://www.hbslimbe.org/The Hale Funeral Homes and Cremation Care of Bradford, VT are in charge of arrangements.To view an online guestbook go to www.halefuneralhomes.com

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